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2009 Jean-Marc Boillot, Puligny-Montrachet The nose is relatively tight; very understated high toned flowers, perhaps pear-drops. This is surprisingly fresh and mineral for a 2009 – too much so? – certainly it’s a little austere. The flavour does expand in the mid-palate, and it’s clearly quite fresh but I’m not entirely convinced this is a […]

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Another day, another Charmes. Laurent Ponsot tells me that the market has taken very well to his Ardea seals, and given three corked wines at a recent vertical tasting of his Clos de la Roche VV he remains absolutely sure that this was the only way to go. I still have a lot of problems […]

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2009 Michel & Patrice Rion, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Les Charmes Medium, medium-plus colour. The nose shows a heavy musky fruit of impressive depth and quite some layers. Lovely texture that has just a hint of fat followed by a growing intensity of flavour – the intensity is turned-up by having understated but rather good acidity – […]

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1981 Robert Ampeau, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Les Lavières Medium colour. The nose has depth and width – there’s still some fruit and sweetness of fruit, turned-over leaves and a hint of meat. There is a slight cushioning to texture and still a little velvet from the tannin – lovely acidity flows through the core of the […]

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When I left home on Wednesday, very early on Wednesday, the forecast promised a backdrop of sun and blue sky for the rest of the week – it seems with the same ‘hit-rate’ as we enjoyed over the harvest. Mist, mist and mist – not forgetting the faint rain – hardly that photogenic. On Friday […]

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2008 L&A Lignier, Gevrey-Chambertin Les Seuvrées Medium, medium-plus colour. The nose shows lovely depth; just a hint of musk and dark red fruits. Fresh, but not overly so this trips over the tongue delivering excellent dark-shaded fruit and impressive complexity – just a hint tart in the finish but compellingly-so. Chew and you can find […]

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1989 Cave du Dauphin, Bonnes-Mares Medium colour. There is a hint of roasted to the fruit but generally this is not so bad, rounded with a faint pot-pourri note. The fruit is ripe enough and actually shows a good mineral tension; not the last word in intensity, but not bad either. The acidity is just […]

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An excellent wine I cannot deny and one of character too – but it’s priced as a premier cru – so I would rebuy only at the ‘correct’ price… 2009 Eugénie, Vosne-Romanée Classic spice-bread on the nose. Clearly there is quite some extraction here, evidenced by that modern rarity – real tannin! Good underlying acidity […]

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I have always enjoyed the Jayer-Gilles wines – perhaps it’s time I knuckled-down and investigated further. This is frankly a benchmark Bourgogne that would give many villages wines pause for thought – but for a Bourgogne, it is simply too expensive, at least 50% too expensive; I would personally rather spend 33 Swiss francs on […]

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2009 Verget, Puligny-Montrachet 1er Champs Gains This has a forward nose with a few herbs and decent, high-toned fruit. There’s plenty of flavour and a really good intensity too. I’d just like a little more acidity to provide focus, without this it’s a bit too expensive – both 2008 and 2010 villages will offer more […]